Why can’t we tell a good teacher through lesson observations?
No teacher is so good - or so bad - that he or she cannot improve. Dylan Wiliam The English education system is obsessed with ascertaining the quality of teachers. And what with the great and the good telling us that teacher quality is the most important ingredient in pupils' success then maybe it's small wonder. As Michael Barber says, "the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality [...]
The problem with fun
Getting students engaged so that they can be taught something seems much less effective than getting them engaged by teaching them something that engages them. Dylan Wiliam Could fun be the enemy of learning? I've not always been the curmudgeonly killjoy I am today. Some years ago, I took part in a department meeting where we were asked to prioritise those qualities we most valued about teaching. We came up with [...]
InformED Interview: We can only guarantee success if we have low expectations
Currently I'm sunning myself in Corsica, but just in case your suffering withdrawals from my regular posts here's an interview with yours truly by Marrianne Stringer from InformEd where I bang on about sundry views on teaching etc. Hope you're enjoying the break.
A guide to The Learning Spy
The summer holidays are here and tomorrow I'm foolishly attempting to drive to Corsica in a 1979 Campervan. That being the case, there will be no time for writing. So, to satisfy your desire for top quality blog posts (ahem) on all things educational, here is a thematic archive of the posts I've written over the past 2 years. See you in a month! Literacy Thinking like a writer - advice [...]
What's the point of classroom displays?
Having broken up for the summer and feeling warm and expansive, I foolishly asked Twitter what it would like me to write about next. Michael Oxenham came back, quick as a flash with "classroom display". Dutifully, I then asked Twitter what made a good classroom display. These are some of the responses: @tim7168 Also things that make the classroom 'theirs' (primary). Lots of photos, work etc. @benking01 Examples of best-practice from students [...]
How can we retain the best teachers?
Do we face a crisis in teacher retention? A few months ago I wrote a post which asked, why so many teachers left teaching. In it I considered the possible reasons for the shocking statistic that 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first 5 years of teaching. Lots of people got in touch to tell me why they had left, or were considering leaving teaching, and they had some [...]
Fireworks teaching: why less might well be more
Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off? Philip Larkin – Toads Many people (and many students) seem to expend considerable energy in attempting to use their wits to drive off the need to work. This provokes the ire of others (often teachers) who consider it character forming and good for them and I-had-to-do-it [...]
Where lesson observations go wrong
UPDATE: Since writing this post in July 2013 a lot has happened. Ofsted has stopped grading individual lessons and many schools have recognised the futility and harm caused by lesson grading. Here is my most recent post on the subject. Can we define an outstanding lesson? No. I get asked this regularly, and I've really tried. But I don't think it's possible. I can describe a specific example of a lesson [...]
Another year in the life of an English teacher
So, another year is done. The Learning Spy has officially entered into its third year of existence. And, after 173 posts I'm not only older but, just possibly, a tiny bit wiser. This time last year I reported that the blog had had almost 50,000 hits. It has now had over 230,000 and is, apparently, the 18th most influential educational blog in the world! I'm still not at all sure about the accuracy [...]
Why the knowledge/skills debate is worth having
'I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike'. Maya Angelou I've come an awful long way since September 2011 when Cristina Milos took the time to point out that my view on the teaching of knowledge and skills were seriously skewed. I'm flabbergasted that, as an experienced teacher, I could have been so ignorant. I said at the [...]
Teaching sequence for developing independence Stage 4: Practise
What does practice make? Well, it turns out that my mum was wrong. Doug Lemov points out in Practice Perfect that practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. What we practise we get good at. And sometimes we get very good at doing things badly. Take writing for instance. When I scribble notes I always use capital letters correctly. This isn't a boast: I just do. It would never occur [...]
Making Meaning in English
Learning Spy CPD
*NEW* Intelligent Accountability
#Cleverer
#PsychBook
#WrongBook
The Secret of Literacy
The Perfect English Lesson
Join Over 10,000 Subscribers Learning from David Didau
Become Part of David Didau’s Network and Further Your Teaching Career.
